The Devil’s Cage

“Could Saikory be a scapegoat upstaged by someone?” Coll asked softly.

“A scapegoat? It’s possible, but there’s a higher chance that he is someone worthy of attracting our attention,” Hanses voiced out his opinion.

“Then who upstaged him?” Garwen asked after some thought.

Then, everyone’s gaze turned toward Lawless.

Ramont asked his question directly. “Lawless, who tipped you off?”

“A guy name Rorl, a veteran in Iron Chariots, but not that powerful. He is usually tasked with leading the newer players on expeditions, opening maps and stuff like that.” Lawless didn’t hold back the information.

“I think we should have a meeting with this Rorl,” Rhino suggested.

“Agreed.”

“Agreed.”

“I second that.”

Ramont nodded, and no one else rejected the suggestion, except for Kieran and Raven the Loner.

The latter’s silence was a habit, so everyone threw their gaze at Kieran.

“Why Saikory?” Kieran asked.

Yeah, why Saikory though?

There were not many players like Saikory in the big city, but definitely not few either.

But why him? Why the guild master and not other similar players?

Everyone frowned en masse.

Speculations popped up in their minds, but in the end, all of them were rejected.

Ultimately, everyone, including Raven, looked at Kieran again.

“Why?” Lawless asked on behalf of everybody.

But under everyone’s anticipating gaze, Kieran laid his hands open, “I don’t know.”

His answer stunned everyone, followed by rants.

“Are you kidding? 2567, how do you make friends like that?”

“2567, you know, if I could beat you, I would have beaten you into a pig!”

…

The crowd went into an uproar instantly.

Although, the question Kieran brought up was remembered at heart.

This would no doubt raise their vigilance in the upcoming operation, and it would be enough.

Kieran reached his goal.

“Rhino and I will go have a meeting with this Rorl,” Ramonet and Rhino stood up.

“We’ll go gather information on Saikory then,” Hanses and Coll moved together.

“The mercenaries around here might have some news on that too. Leave it to me and Blair,” Garwen and Blair left together.

The members of the little group swiftly moved out.

After Lawless was told to wash the plates and wipe the table by Rachel, the inn was left with Kieran, Blacksmith, Lemour the Alchemist and Raven the Loner.

Lemour, however, stood up, wobbling and wandered over to the bench beside the corner. She laid down, and snores soon followed.

The bottle in her arms was emptied.

Raven carried his cat to the front of the fireplace, sat down against the wall, and adjusted himself and the cat in a comfortable position.

The table was now left with Kieran and Blacksmith.

“Starbeck’s cooking is good, I hear?” Blacksmith leaned back in the chair and asked.

“Em, very good.” Kieran nodded honestly.

Blacksmith then went silent.

The atmosphere also went silent, making it feel a little awkward.

Kieran frowned. He didn’t like awkwardness, so he wanted to leave, but before he could stand up, Blacksmith spoke again.

“Are you… satisfied with the food he cooks?” Blacksmith asked in a hesitant manner, the words she used deliberately thought over.

“Satisfied,” Kieran answered with a firm tone again.

“Then… It’s fine.” Blacksmith shook her head and quickly shifted the topic under Kieran’s doubtful gaze.

“Give it to me,” Blacksmith extended her hand.

“What?” Kieran was stunned.

“[Frost Heart Remnant]!”

As she replied, Blacksmith also showed off her aura, the aura of a high-ranker.

In addition, her aura wasn’t a common one either. Dazzling, colorful shines shone before Kieran’s eyes; he felt like he was seeing fire, cyclones and even frost in Blacksmith. Three distinctive auras intertwined and formed a colourful big bird that soared in the sky, flying over the endless ‘land’ of darkness.

Then…

Everything returned to normal.

Rank II?

No, not rank II! Something similar, but much more complicated?

The feeling of containing everything, yet being independent of all rose in Kieran’s heart.

Owning Devil, Cardinal Sins, Saint Thorn, Dawn and Plague, Kieran always thought his energy system was very complicated, but somehow, Blacksmith’s one before him seemed even more so.

Unlike his plethora of Origin Force, her complexity formed a perfect system.

Then, a word escaped Kieran’s mouth.

“Gem Force?!”

Kieran looked at Blacksmith’s eyes, waiting for a reply.

He saw her smile, the smile telling him that his guess was right, but it gave Kieran even more questions.

“When did you…”

“I was thinking about how to chase up to you and just pressed on further with hard work—[Dungeon Cooldown Card] is a rare thing, but it’s not non-existent. Fortunately, my appraisal of gemstones and my embedding abilities allowed me to get them.”

Blacksmith was as cold and bland as ever as she explained.

She had returned to her old self.

Kieran?

He was always himself from the start.

“You don’t have to chase up to me, but you should be responsible for yourself. Everyone is forced in this city. In order to not choose the worst option during a critical moment, everyone should try their best in seizing the opportunity to become stronger.”

Kieran corrected the part in Blacksmith’s words where he thought she was wrong, also telling her his own thoughts.

There wasn’t a single lie, everything being genuinely from his heart.

Anyone who heard that could tell how sincere he was, and Blacksmith was no exception.

So…

“1.2 million,” Blacksmith said coldly.

“What?”

Kieran’s hand shook for a second after taking out [Frost Heart Remnant]. No, not just his hand, his body shook as well.

He felt pain, pain in his flesh and whole body.

He had known appraising [Frost Heart Remnant] would be expensive, but not this expensive, to the point that it reached the level of his profit from the auction.

Did she do it on purpose?

Kieran thought of this unconsciously, but he denied it right away.

In his mind, other than the ability to appraise gemstones and embed, the strongest image he had of Blacksmith was her calmness and ability to differentiate from the big city and reality.

She’d even set a certain time for herself to stay in the game.

So, it didn’t seem right for a person who had such powerful self-control to do something like this.

Moreover, Kieran couldn’t find any reason for her to do this.

Kieran took in a deep breath.

He pressed down on the unwillingness in his heart and traded with Blacksmith.

Lemour’s snores from the bench got louder.

Raven held his cat tighter.

Women? Hehe, too scary.

Cats were the best.